The Neighbourhood Ministry 2020
Thank you for your kind donations throughout the whole of 2020! Your donations continued to come in despite the fact that the church was closed for much of the year. Once a month, St Philip's provides the food supplies for the street visits and due to the generosity of our parish members, we have been able to provide winter clothing and often sleeping bags weekly! Below is the report from the last outing out from St Philip's in 2020. Upon reading it you will see how your donations make a positive impact and how much they are appreciated.
(Photo: Jane Davis and Janice Hope prepare for a Neighbourhood Ministry outing, Summer 2020)
Neighbourhood Ministry Report for Dec 19th, 2020
Suzi N and Joanne V headed out fully loaded with Christmas packets in nylon tote bags, sandwiches, fruit, cooked eggs, Christmas cookies, lots of fleece jackets, other outer clothing, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, heavy plastic bags for covering the sleeping bags, tuques, waterproof gloves and tightly fitting work gloves for binning, boots, men’s long underwear, and extra masks all provided by St Philip’s. Fortunately, we had 2 wheeled carts to help us move this considerable load around.
At 4th and Highbury St, a growing group awaited our arrival: T, D, R, B, M, Ar and An gratefully accepted the food, packets, and gloves. An additional packet of food and a coat was given to An. for his wife. They all were happy to receive gloves. Sleeping bags were given to M, An, R and D. D, An and M delighted in a new can openers. They thanked us profusely, sent enthusiastic Christmas wishes to us and all the NM Teams, and special good wishes to ‘the Reverend’.
At Whole Foods on 4th, we met pleasant P on his usual corner. He took a packet and food, and sent his good Christmas wishes. In front of the Shopper’s across the street, we met with D whom we did not know before. He most gratefully accepted a packet, all the food, plus a sleeping mat, gloves, and masks. We informed him of the weekly NM Team visits to watch for. He was very thankful.
At the VSB Park, J greeted us. He accepted a packet, food and tuque. He also expressed special thanks and Christmas wishes. In the lane east of Granville St, we met with a familiar acquaintance whose name escaped us. He was cheery and accepted the packet and food gratefully. He took gloves, long underwear and a fleece.
As we walked past the McDonald’s on Broadway heading back towards Granville, we glanced inside and were recognized by a young fellow quickly exiting to see us. It was A followed by his girlfriend S who were for a few weeks camped in the Granville Bus Loop park. Next A and S led us to the back of the city building at 7th and Pine where C was sleeping rough. He’s a young man, polite and well-spoken who could hardly believe his eyes at what we were offering him. He most gratefully accepted a sleeping mat, sleeping bag, gloves, hat, extra socks, and boots. He expressed his gratitude profusely. We informed him about the weekly NM Teams to look for on Saturday mornings. He was in such need and so grateful for the extra items of comfort we happened to have this week.
At the Wawanesa building, we met Js and Jm. They were most appreciative of the special Christmas packets, and food. Js took long underwear & gloves, and Jm took gloves. At the Tim Horton’s on Broadway in Kits, we saw S’s gear but he wasn’t around. We left him the last packet loaded with the last of the food items and tucked it safely, we hope, under some of his things.
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Please Continue This Ministry by Donating:
- Disposable face masks and small bottles of hand sanitizer
- Sleeping bags, sleeping pads, tarps and can openers
- Fleeces, winter jackets, gloves, rain pants, men's underwear (size M & L), long underwear, sports socks, boots (sizes 9-11)
- Juice boxes, fruit cups, puddings, soft cereal and protein bars, canned meat and fish
- Donations for the Marpole food bank, which we bring over on a bi-weekly basis.